Says Tom about the clinic: “I model Western Canadian Temperate
Rain Forests. I show how I do the trees, and all that grows in these forests
down to the fungus's. Stumps, cut, hollow and rotten. Rotten logs, ferns,
mosses and many other of the ground cover of the forest, using as much natural
materials as I can.”

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Congrats to the Calgary Model Railway Society on another successful Supertrain! This year's edition was held in a new location; from what I could tell, everything worked out very well.

A nice scene on the Edmonton N-Scalers layout.

With the show spread out over two indoor soccer pitches, hallways and two other gyms, three was plenty of space for the layouts and exhibits and to move around.

Another nice scene, this time on the layout of theIndependent Free-Mo Operating Group.

As usual, the layouts were great, as were the other exhibits. A highlight was seeing the KISS concert scene for real. (Read about it here on this blog.)

The KISS concert scene, complete with sound.

Photos on this page are a few of the things that caught my eye (besides Bowser's announcement of its new SD40-2F Red Barn model,that is); over a couple of other posts I'll share some other great modelling.

A detailed tank car unloading scene, also on theIndependent Free-Mo Operating Group layout.

If you're like me, you'd happily accept--which is what I did this past week when Daryl Adair of Rail Travel Tours asked me to take a trip to write an article for the Winnipeg Free Press about a special August 18-20 tour to mark the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR).The tour will follow a portion of the route of the CNoR started as a competitor to the CPR in Manitoba in the 1880s and 1890s.

By the time we arrived in Dauphin, we were caughtby a spring blizzard.

The railway was
officially chartered in 1899 to build a line linking the prairies with the
port of Thunder Bay (then Port Arthur/Fort William) on Lake Superior, and then on to central Canada.

The line
reached Edmonton in 1905, and construction to Vancouver began in 1910. The last
spike was driven in B.C. in 1915.

Dauphin's railway station, opened in 1912.

About the same time the CNoR was being built, a
third transcontinental railway was under construction: The Grant Trunk Pacific.

When neither railway proved profitable, they were amalgamated by the Canadian government in 1918 to form Canadian National Railways.

The snow had stopped by the time wearrived in Canora.

Significant portions of the old CNoR system survive
under CN, including the Churchill, Man. line that I travelled on in April, and which the tour will follow in August.

(Other
portions include the line from Toronto to Longlac, Ontario; the line
from the Yellowhead Pass southwest to Vancouver; and the line
from Winnipeg to Duluth, Minnesota, CN’s primary connection to Chicago.)

The Canora station in nicer weather--like it will in be in Augustduring the Rail Travel Tours trip.

Coming home, my journey was on the CN main line from
Melville, Sask. to Winnipeg—the former GTP line.

The Melville, Sask. station, with The Canadian.

The August trip by Rail Travel Tours will enable participants to travel by VIA Rail on the former CNoR line to Canora, Sask., then bus down to Melville and take VIA's The Canadian back to Winnipeg.

While waiting for The Canadian, I caught this new pair of sequentially-numbered ES44AC units.

While in Canora and Melville, the tour will visit local railway stations, museums and other attractions to learn more about the area, and the railway's impact on life in the the two towns.

The tour is also a fundraiser for the Winnipeg Railway Museum; before departure, participants will also get to tour the Museum, which is located at the VIA station in downtown Winnipeg.

View from the dome car; best seat on the train!

The tour promises to be a great adventure for people who enjoy train travel, for history buffs and for those who want to learn more about small-town life on the prairies.

Click hereto learn more about the Winnipeg Railway Museum/Canadian Northern 100th Anniversary Tour. The cost is $725 double and $825 single. You can also call 1-866-704-3528.

About Me

Click here for a topical index to the blog.
Click here for an index by year to the blog.
Click here for an index of Great Canadian Model Railroads.
Click here for an overview of the layout from the December, 2009 Railroad Model Craftsman.
Click here to view videos of the layout on YouTube.
Click here for a track plan.